The New Prophet: Book Two: Earth
by Nightwhat
Summary: Sequel. Lucy is the Prophet. She is deeply connected to the spirits and must teach the Avatar how to control the Avatar State. But she also has feelings for Zuko, the Fire Nation Prince that her companions believe is evil. Can she balance her destiny and her feelings for the prince? Or, will she lose everything?


**Chapter 1: The Avatar State**

I was admiring the poster of the Blue Spirit. I was supposed to be packing to leave the North Pole, but hey, I get distracted.

"Lucy," Katara says from the door of our room, "Can we talk?"

"Sure, I guess." I quickly close the poster, stuffing it into my bag. I turn around, giving Katara my full attention. She sits down on the edge of her bed and looks expectantly at me, so I sit down next to her.

"Lucy," Katara sighs, she seems about as keen to have this conversation as I am, "we need to talk about your little crush."

"I don't know why," I say stiffly, "If it was a problem you'd know by now."

"We can't be sure of that." My eyebrows shoot up into my bangs.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just not sure you can be trusted." She says quickly, reminding me a bit of Sokka, but then takes a breath of air before continuing, "It's just, when we first met you said you were from the Earth Kingdom, obviously that wasn't true, so what else don't we know about you?"

"Then ask, Katara. What do you wanna know? I'm an open book."

"Fine. Let's start with why you like Zuko?" The room is silent for a moment as I think about this question. I have to relive the times I fell for the brooding prince, because I didn't think about it, I just felt it.

"Because Zuko is determined, which as annoying as it is to you, really is endearing. Because he makes mistakes with good intentions. Because every time I left, Zuko came back for me. Because he won't let someone die if he can stop it. Because Zuko is honorable, even if he doesn't see it. Because, Katara," I turn to make eye contact as I say, "Because Zuko hated Zhao, but Zuko still tried to stop me when the Ocean spirit made me kill him." The room was silent again as Katara took everything I had to say in. What she finally said made me want to slap her.

"And Zuko knows you're the Prophet. He came back for you to get to Aang. He made you believe he was good."

"Yes, Katara!" I burst, standing bolt right from the bed, "He did make me believe he was good, because he really is a good guy. Ok, so he's after the Avatar, but really all he wants is to go home and be accepted, and he thinks he can't do that without Aang." Katara stands up to say something, "And that's no excuse." I agree with her unworded statement. "But that doesn't make him evil. It makes him lost, and he will find his path, and it will be good."

"Or he'll just follow his father's path." Katara points out. Frustrated, I grab my bag and head out of the room.

"Come on guys, let's go to the boat." I say to Aang and Sokka as I reach for the front door.

"You're coming with us?" I hear Sokka say. I angrily drop my bag on the floor.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"Just thought you might prefer being with your boyfriend." He shrugs like it's no big deal. But it is such. A. Big. Deal.

"Alright, listen up everybody." Katara comes in, already not happy, and even Momo perks up his ears. "If I wanted to betray Aang, even if I just wanted to leave, I've had my chances. Obviously, I didn't take them. Now can we all just agree to stop talking about Zuko?"

"I'm just not sure you should go with us." Sokka says. Great, suspicious Sokka is back.

"Oh for the love of-" I raise my arms for some invisible spirit's help, none comes, "Aang trusts me! Right Aang?"

"Yeah, sure." He says with the conviction of someone who doesn't want to get involved.

"I'll see ya guys at the boat." I say dejectedly, picking up my bag, the door leaving a dull thud behind me. Some people would say I'm avoiding the situation, those people would be right.

* * *

The ship that would take us out of the frozen waters of the North Pole was not large enough to carry the tension between me and the water tribe siblings. For the majority of the voyage I stayed in my hammock and faced the wall. They didn't try to talk to me and I didn't try to talk to them.

Nothing got better, but at least it didn't get worse.

At night Katara bunked right across from me. I briefly looked over my shoulder at her only to meet her piercing stare. Not wanting to feel daggers at my back all night I took out my sleeping bag and went to where we were holding Appa and Momo. I laid the bag on Appa's tail and slept there. Momo skittered over to me. I stroked his head, more for my comfort than his.

"You trust me don't you Momo?" I ask. I took him skittering away as my answer. "Yeah, this is going to be a long trip."

* * *

The next morning I joined my traveling companions on the deck of the ship. Master Pakku was seeing us off personally.

"Katara, I want you to have this." Master Pakku presents Katara with a blue amulet, "This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis. The water has unique properties. Don't lose it." His face softens as he hands it to her.

"Thank you, Master Pakku." Katara says respectfully before embracing him and then climbing aboard Appa.

Master Pakku and I hadn't interacted too much during my stay at the North Pole. There were just a few instances when I finished training with Yagoda early and ran over to his training yard for the last part of his lesson. So I was surprised when Pakku turned to me next.

"Lucy, I'm sure Princess Yue would want you to have a piece of the spirit oasis as well." He presented me with an amulet similar to Katara's in shape but a darker, more purplish color. "May you use its power well." He advised knowingly, almost as if he could see into my future.

I slipped the amulet around my neck and hid it under the neckline of my dress. Following Katara's footsteps, I climb atop Appa. When I reached the saddle Katara doesn't look at me, I wonder if she's doing it on purpose, but after a few failed attempts to make eye contact I know the unfortunate answer.

Aang lands on Appa's head, oblivious to the tension, and asks one of us to stow away his box of scrolls. I reach for it first, making brief eye contact with Katara as she outstretched her own hand. As quick as it happened she had pulled back her arm to cross it over her chest and look defiantly away from me.

Sokka is the last to climb on, a slightly disappointed expression gracing his face, but that isn't as bad as the look of suspicion he bores into my skull. I almost wish he'd avoid looking at me too.

"Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here. General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There you'll be safe to begin your earthbending training with King Bumi." Master Pakku instructs. Aang pulls at Appa's reigns and shouts 'yip yip' and suddenly we've lifted off.

With one water tribe kid staring me down and the other avoiding my gaze, I can tell this is definitely going to be a long trip.

* * *

Eventually, we make it to our destination, a circular, walled tower that hosts an outpost of Earth Kingdom soldiers. The trip was entirely too long and quiet. In fact, sitting in Appa's saddle was too much for me to handle, so instead I sat up front with Aang, the only person who still seemed to trust me. The silence was still deafening.

"There it is!" Sokka says excitedly as soon as the tower came into our sights. When Appa lands we are greeted by soldiers, a bearded man in a green cap and Earth Kingdom armor at the front.

"Welcome, Avatar Aang! Prophet Lucy!" The bearded man says graciously. He and every soldier bow as we climb off Appa, stretching and trying to get the feeling back in our butts. The general spreads his arms out in greeting, and introduces himself, "I am General Fong. And welcome to all of you, great heroes! Appa, Momo, brave Sokka, the mighty Katara."

"'Mighty Katara'?" Katara repeats, obviously pleased, "I like that."

Fireworks explode behind us. A variety of colors that are bright even in the middle of the day.

"Not bad, not bad." Sokka nods. It's nice to have a distraction from the fact two of my friends don't trust me anymore.

* * *

Inside, the room is large, with green-lit columns on each side of a central walkway. General Fong sits at a desk at the far end of the room, while we sit closer to the room's center on a mat.

"Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you single-handedly wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole." Fong strokes his beard thoughtfully, "I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power." He stops stroking and lowers his hand to the desk, "It's an awesome responsibility."

"I try not to think about it too much." Aang replies humbly.

"Avatar..." Fong smiles happily, "you're ready to face the Fire Lord now."

"What?!" Aang says, alarmed, "No I'm not!"

"Aang still needs to master all four elements." Katara informs.

"Why?" General Fong stands from his desk, "With the kind of power he possesses—power enough to destroy hundreds of battleships in a matter of minutes—he could defeat the Fire Lord now!"

"Aang isn't ready!" I shout, standing. Our stay here isn't going to end well, and frankly I'm not in a good mood anyway, so I have no qualms trying to get out of this situation now. "You just want to use Aang as a weapon, but he's not. He's a kid, and yeah he may be the Avatar, but he still has a lot of work to do before he takes on the Fire Lord. Come on guys," I wave to my friends, well former friends as the case might be, "we don't need Fong's escort to Omashu, we can get there ourselves." I start walking out, but stop and turn back around when I realize they aren't following me.

"What, so it'll be easier for the Fire Nation to get at Aang?" Sokka's suspicious eyes slide to me again. I groan in frustration.

"Enough."General Fong interjected, he seemed as frustrated as I am if not more. "We will follow the Avatar to the Fire Nation so he can use his awesome power to defeat the Fire Lord."

"But, sir," Sokka speaks to General Fong, is hand raised timidly in the air, "the thing is Aang can only do those things when he's in the Avatar state."

"See, it's this special state where—" Aang starts to explain, but General Fong interrupts heatedly.

"I'm well aware." Then he continues more gently, "Your eyes and tattoos glow and you're able to summon unbelievable power." He walks around his desk towards a map of the world, "Without you we'd be slaughtered before we even reach their shores. But with you leading the way as the ultimate weapon, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the Fire Nation." He draws a line with his finger from the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation.

"Right..." Aang says uncertainly, "but I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar state, much less what to do once I'm there."

"So it's decided then." General Fong states, turning around to face us, "I'll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar state, and then you'll face your destiny. " Unable to take anymore of General Fong I tramped back to the group, each step sending a small tremor through the floor.

"No. You. Won't!" I protest, "I'm the prophet. I'm Aang's teacher when it comes to the Avatar State. It's my job. So if anyone is going to teach him, it will be me." Now if only I knew how. "When Aang is _ready_ to master the Avatar state, he'll have me to go to. But until then, Aang needs to work on mastering the other elements." I cross my arms and look sternly at the general. I feel a bit like my mom when I was in sixth grade and she defended me in front of the principal for punching Mitch Mitchelson for pantsing Gary Thomas in the cafeteria.

"Right. Nothing's decided. We already have a plan. Aang's pursuing his destiny his way." Katara says, backing me up if only because she agrees Aang isn't ready.

"Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on. May I show you something?" Fong shows Aang to a window. I know what he'll see there is horrible, and I want to punch Fong for manipulating Aang like this. Instead I clench my fists and hold myself back.

"That's the infirmary, and those soldiers are the lucky ones." General Fong tells Aang, "They came back." Aang looks down, probably in guilt ridden sadness as Fong's point of view slowly gets to him, "Every day the Fire Nation takes lives. People are dying, Aang! You could end it, now! Think about it."

* * *

"You shouldn't have acted so aggressively." Katara says later when we're unloading our bags in our room. She sounds eerily similar to my mom after we left the principal's office that one time in sixth grade. "We don't want to get on General Fong's bad side, you can endanger Aang that way."

She didn't talk to me again after that. And we had spoken so quietly I'm sure the boys hadn't heard, so it didn't spark conversation with them either. But those few sentences gave me hope that my relationship with Katara was amendable.

Later, Aang had left presumably to talk to Fong. When he returns we are still awake and waiting. He's sullen, walking straight from the entrance to his bed without looking anywhere else. When he sits down he speaks so quietly only the utter silence in the room allows anyone to hear.

"I told the general I'd help him... by going into the Avatar state."

"Aang, no." Katara protested, "This is not the right way."

"Why not?" Sokka asked, lounging in his bed with his arms behind his head. "Remember when he took out the Fire Navy? He was incredible."

"He also didn't have any control over what he was doing." I remind him. Sokka and Katara give me looks reminiscent of parents that want their child to stay out of the conversation.

"There's a right way to do this. Practice, study, and discipline." Katara listed.

"Or just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord." Sokka suggests. Katara rises out of bed, angrily approaching Aang and her brother.

"If you two meatheads want to throw away everything we've worked for, fine. Go ahead and glow it up!" She leaves the room in a fit, Aang gets up and starts after her.

"Katara, I'm just being realistic." He pleads, almost looking ashamed "I don't have time to do this the right way."

"Yes you do, don't let Fong manipulate you into doing something you're not ready for," I tell him. "You can hurt a lot more people that way."

"Lucy," Aang whined, "I was hoping I'd at least have your support on this, after all I need you to teach me." He stared me down with puppy dog eyes, eventually I had to give in.

"Only if you're sure you want to do this." I concede, hoping he'll change his mind.

* * *

"Do you have to be here?" I ask Fong none too nicely.

"I need to monitor the Avatar's progress."

"Well, you are distracting, go monitor from over there." I point to the far end of the courtyard, the general looks over then swings his head to look back at me. I'm still in the same pose, insisting he goes over there. Begrudgingly, he moves. "Alright Aang," I start to speak once I'm sure General Fong is out of earshot, "Now the Avatar state is a very spiritual process, after all the glow you emit is the combination of all your past lives. So I figured the best way to get in tune with your past selves is by meditating." I sit down cross legged. "Now I have a very important question to ask of you."

"Go ahead." Aang smiled encouragingly.

"How exactly do you meditate?"

Once Aang filled me in on the most important part of the lesson I was teaching him, we began.

"Do you feel that?" I ask quietly. I was referring to the light humming in the air. It was similar to the feeling of the spirit oasis at the North Pole.

"Feel what?" He asks, obviously not.

"The air. It doesn't feel like air, it feels heavier, and it's moving." I explain softly, speaking slower and more softly as I continue.

_Lucy?_ I hear someone call my name. I open my eyes to see who and find that I'm not in the Earth Kingdom anymore. The bamboo swamp and creepy noises indicate I'm back in the spirit world. I was alone. Not even the anti-social monkey monk was there.

Suddenly, from somewhere deep within the swamp, a small badger mole finds its way toward me, at points teetering on one side of its legs. His body shook violently, drawing attention to the set of burn and slash scares that left bald patches in the Earth Kingdom Spirit's fur. Tu made some intelligible noise resembling a cross between a sneeze and a cough.

"_You have a lot of work ahead of you._" A voice said behind me, the same voice that called me here in the first place.

"_Nana!_" I exclaim happily, the old woman smiled fondly back.

"_Hello, Lucy._" She said, "_I wish I could stay longer but I can't so just listen and I'll speak quickly. Aang is not ready to master the Avatar state. Right now all it serves is its primary purpose as a defense mechanism. He cannot hope to gain control over it until you have mastered it yourself. And while you have garnered considerable more control, you are still merely a pawn in the spirits hands._"

"Lucy!" Someone yelled from the real world. My Nana disappeared somewhere between me looking up to find the perpetrator and looking back. Then my eyes opened and I was back to sitting on a cushion with Aang staring at me. "Lucy, you fell asleep. What am I supposed to do now?"

It hadn't felt like I was asleep.

"Aang." I sighed, looking him dead in the eye so he'll understand, "You're not ready for this, you can't master the Avatar State yet.

"Are you sure?" his face dropped.

"Yes."

"Well, can I at least figure out how to get access to it?" Aang was desperate, he felt obligated to help these people now, but I had to set him straight. He wasn't ready. Neither of us are.

"No Aang!" I yelled, I didn't mean to and Aang looked hurt that I had so I calmed myself before continuing. "Listen Aang, the Avatar state is very dangerous. You can't control yourself yet, so anytime you enter that state it's just a defense mechanism. And yeah, you're powerful but listen," I grab onto his shoulders, like that'll magically make him listen better. "If you die in that state the cycle is broken and there will never be another Avatar. Understand?" He nodded his head. He looked very glum.

"It won't always be like that." I try to cheer him up. "You won't be so out of control. When you're ready I will be able to teach you to control it, to get in and out of the Avatar state as you please. That'll be fun right?"

"I guess." He sat down in front of me and began meditating again.

I was afraid to tell him_ I_ wasn't ready to teach him yet. Afraid that Sokka and Katara would kick me out of the group if they knew I couldn't even do my job. I only hope I will be ready by the time _Aang_ is ready.

* * *

"The thing is," Aang spoke across Fong's desk the next day, Sokka and I a few steps away to support him, "I'm just not ready to trigger the Avatar State. So, I guess we'll just be going to Omashu now."

"Sure I can't change your mind?" Fong asks, sounding disappointed.

"I'm sure," Aang confirmed, "look right now I can only reach the Avatar state when I'm in genuine danger."

"I see. I was afraid you'd say that." Fong steps back then pushes forward, earthbending his desk forward into Aang, rocketing them both through the window. Sokka and I try to go after Aang, but we're restrained by two guards each.

"Aang!" Sokka and I simultaneously scream out. Fong runs over to the destroyed wall Aang was flung from and orders his men to attack.

Struggling against my captors, I stop and relax. Then I stomp on one their feet, he lets me go and I slip out the arms of the other guard to punch the first guard in the gut. The second guard comes up behind me, but I flip him over and he lands on top of the first guard who was doubled over. I look over to Sokka whose guards are clutching their feet in pain.

Both free, we run over to the broken wall to see Aang surrounded by earthbenders throwing giant stone discs at him.

"Come on! We aren't any help up here!" I grab Sokka's arm and drag him away towards the stairs. Sokka's guards try to stop us but I point back at my guards, "Do you guys really want to end up like that?" They glance back then decide to step away. Outside we hear Aang scream and it fuels us to move faster down the stairs. Katara meets us at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's going on?" She asks Sokka, worried and confused.

"The general's gone crazy. He's trying to force Aang into the Avatar state!" Sokka explains.

We watch Aang run between two groups of soldiers and then head into action. Sokka pulls out his boomerang and tosses it, knocking out a soldier. Katara bends a stream of water into a weapon that slices into one of the soldier's spears.

I go straight for the real enemy and run to Fong as he lines up a group of giant discs around Katara.

"Fong, Stop!" I yell. But the only response I get is my feet stuck in the ground so I can't move.

"Maybe you can avoid me," Fong says to Aang, "but she can't." The Earthbenders use their discs to create a v-shaped wall, making the only means of escape by General Fong. Katara throws her stream of water at Fong, but he raises a patch of dirt and it turns to mud. Then Fong spins Katara around and she begins to sink into the ground.

"Aaahhh!" Knee deep in the drt, Katara struggles to escape but doesn't budge, "I can't move!"

"Don't hurt her!" Aang demands, enraged. If Fong was looking for Aang's weak point, he found it. Aang leaps down from the staircase behind Fong and shoots a blast of air, unfortunately Fong raises a wall of earth to protect himself.

"Aaahhh!" Katara screams again as Fong bends her deeper into the ground.

Sokka, riding atop one of the soldier's ostrich-horse, charges out from behind one of the discs towards Fong. However, Fong sinks the bird's legs into the dirt, effectively tossing Sokka off and into a hole of one of the discs.

Instead of struggling I shut my eyes, listening to my surroundings. I'm trying to access the spirits' power before Aang does.

"Stop this! You have to let her go." Aang commands Fong.

"You could save her if you were in the Avatar state." Fong says maliciously.

"I'm trying…" Aang's cries out, both in frustration and desperation, "I'm trying!"

"Aang, I'm sinking!" Katara yells.

"I don't see glowing." General Fong mocks.

"Aaahhh!" Katara screams in terror, "Please!"

"You don't need to do this!" Aang is hysterical now.

"Apparently I do." General Fong says too calmly. I hear Katara's last strangled scream until it disappears completely and I know I'm too late.

The rushing power hits me before I can even open my eyes. The first thing my eyes are drawn to once they're open is Aang and his glowing arrow marks and eyes. Then I look down to my burned hand and see the glowing image of a dragon. My first instinct was to free myself, so I did, but unearthing my feet didn't quell the rage inside of me. The rage that I knew belonged to Aang.

"No!" I shout to myself. I won't let these emotions control me, especially when they're not my own. It takes every fiber of my being to calm myself. But then my muscles relax and I'm overcome with serenity. Meanwhile, Aang is attacking Fong. A vortex of dirt and wind surrounds him, lifting Aang high above the base and making it very difficult to reach him.

I lift myself off the ground in a small ball of rushing air and ascend to join the Avatar.

"Aang." I don't try to raise my voice as I approach him, unlike General Fong who is shouting. I'm sure it wouldn't make a difference. "Aang." Once I'm inside Aang's vortex my own drops, "Look at what you're doing. Needless destruction isn't going to help anyone." Finally, I'm close enough to touch Aang. I grab him firmly by the shoulders. "Take control of the Avatar State, don't let it control you. And if you can't, if you're not ready, stop. Just stop and come back to us."

"Avatar Aang, can you hear me?!" General Fong shouts, "Your friend is safe!" He raises his arms and Katara emerges from the ground, gasping. "It was just a trick to trigger the Avatar state, AND IT WORKED!"

Fong's words just make the Avatar even angrier. I grip Aang tighter, hoping it'll keep him from destroying the base. His shoulders tick threateningly. I know I have to speak quickly.

"Don't take your anger out on Fong, Aang. He was wrong to trick you into this state by doing that to Katara, but trust me when I say you do not want Katara to see what I think you're about to do."

Aang dropped like he was about to slam into the ground, but at the last possible moment, he stopped. Aang hovered for a few seconds before his feet touched the ground. He stops glowing and even with his feet on the ground he's unbalanced. I land quickly, the power leaving me as I reach the ground, and I help Aang stand.

"Aang are you alright?" Katara asks as they embrace.

"Yeah," he nods solemnly. Katara looks up at me as she realizes something. She lets Aang go to point at me.

"You could have rescued me?" She asks, accusingly.

"Katara-" Aang tries to stop her, but I answer anyway.

"When Aang went into the Avatar State I did too. So, yes I could have."

"Then how come you didn't?" Katara asks, now with her hands on her hips.

"Guys, don't-" Aang tried again.

"Because I knew you'd be fine, and I had to stop Aang from doing something he'd regret." I tell her. Katara's face softens, looking apologetic. Then she realizes something else.

"You knew this would happen didn't you? That's why you wanted to leave. You didn't want to force Aang through that." I nod and she embraces me in a hug. "I'm sorry." she whispers.

"Katara, I hope you never have to see me like that again." Aang says once we've released, sounding tired and remorseful.

"Hah! Are you joking?" General Fong laughs, walking towards us with his arms spread. "That was almost perfect! We just have to find a way to control you when you're like that.

"You're out of your mind." Aang tells him, but Fong ignores the comment.

"I guess we'll figure that out on the way to the Fire Nation." Before I can yell at him, and I really want to yell at him, Sokka comes up from behind on an ostrich-horse and knocks Fong out with his boomerang.

"Anybody got a problem with that?" Sokka asks the soldiers, who all shake their heads in unison. He dismounts the ostrich-horse and joins us while the soldiers bow in, I assume, an apology.

"Do you still want an escort to Omashu?" One of them offered. Katara looks back at us, making sure to smile at me before turning back.

"I think we're all set."

* * *

"Katara." I say when we've reached a considerable distance from the base. "I'm sorry. You were right. And I'm sorry." Both Sokka and Katara look at me. While Katara is curious to what I have to say, Sokka still looks at me suspiciously. "I told Aang stuff about me, and I suppose that's why he trusted me more than you guys did. 'Cause you're right, I haven't shared many personal things with you. Like my past or what I really happened on Zuko's ship. But I'm ready to share now, if you want."

Katara, easier to forgive and more trusting of me now, smiled and moved closer.

"I'd like that. Wouldn't you like that Sokka?" She asked her brother, who sat at the other end of the saddle looking disinterested.

"Sure. Some in flight entertainment would be nice." He joked and I knew before I even started that Sokka would be harder to win back. At least I was certain Katara and I could be friends again.


End file.
